The St. Olaf Orchestra from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN performed on stage Wednesday night as a part of their 2016 Fall tour. The concert opened with Kabalevsky’s Colas Breugnon Overture, followed by Ravel’s La Valse with Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 closing the night’s program.

The pieces were familiar to orchestra director Julie Blackstock.

“It was fantastic,” Blackstock said. “They played a marimba concertino, the first movement of a horn concerto, an overture that we played two years ago my first year here by Kabalevsky which was really cool, and three quarters of a Brahms symphony.”

Even with a show as long as some movies, sophomore Daniel Salameh is one of many that enjoyed the performance.

“It lasted about an hour and a half,” Salameh said. “But it was pretty awesome.”

For Blackstock, the performance was a reminder of the professional atmosphere in college.

“I think it’s really a wonderful opportunity for us to have it here, free of charge for our district,” Blackstock said. “I mean obviously we have great symphonies nearby: the Dallas Symphony, Plano Symphony. But this was something that is students not much older than them who are doing this in college and performing at a very high level. I think it’s important for our students to see.”

For some, the concert was motivation to shoot for higher goals.

“It inspired me because I want to improve,” Salameh said. “I want to be in Symphonic All-Region next year.”

Ultimately, the concert showed that students can be involved in more than one field of study.

“We found out that a third of the college are involved in a music performance ensemble,” Blackstock said. “And most of the students onstage are double majors in music and something else. So it was really neat for our culture in Frisco to see that you can do music and be successful and you can do music and something else which is important to a lot of people here.”